Business World: Biogen Idec, Elan, & Tysabri (Natalizumab)

Biogen Idec Inc.'s drug Tysabri might be safely given to multiple sclerosis patients if they are carefully monitored for an often fatal brain disease, according to articles in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Three patients taking the medication have contracted the disease, known as PML, and a fourth case is suspected. But some doctors writing in the journal speculated that monitoring might make it possible to discontinue treatment with Tysabri -- known generically as natalizumab -- and treat patients in time to prevent PML from developing into a life-threatening illness.

(Reminder: "PML" is the abbreviation for "progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.")

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Note: The NEJM material is accessible, online "early release" material, found on the journal's content homepage, includes the PML case studies, two editorials, and correspondence. The set will appear in the printed version of the journal on the 28th of July.